Eli Bendersky's website - "HTTP - The Definitive Guide" by David Gourney and Brian Totty et. el. - very thorough reference for the HTTP protocol, including tons of useful information about tangential topics like proxies, tunnels, cookies etc. A shame that this book is so dated (from 2002) - it would be really great to have a new edition.
- "What's the matter with Kansas?" by Thomas Frank - another book trying to decipher the mystery of the swing to the right of working-class Americans that occurred in the last 20-30 years. Unfortunately, it's a very disappointing book. I was looking for balanced insights, but it just keeps attacking conservatives without providing any explanation. Instead of "here is why this happens", it's "here are more examples of it happening, see how stupid these people are? har har har". I've read several books on this topic by now, and this one is by far the worst.
- "The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure" by H. M. Enzensberger - a fun, playful introduction to several mathematical topics for kids. Went through this with my daughter and she really liked it, although some of the ideas discussed are a bit over the head of an 8 year-old. This book seems like a great part of an enrichment curriculum for kids who are curious about math and science.
- "The Codebreakers" by David Kahn - an epic, encyclopedic account of the history of cryptography, from the earliest historics artifacts and until World War II. Certainly one of the longest books I've ever read, and it took me a while to finish it - a chapter here, two there, stretched over several months. The writing is really good, but the author has an obsession for details so the book is not easy to read for a prolonged period of time without taking a sizable break. While it's good for history, the world of crypto has been completely revolutionized by computers and this book has absolutely nothing on that - having been writtein in 1966. As far as it's concerned, mechanical rotor devices (a-la Enigma) are the state of the art in encryption. A more serious criticism is that the author tries to explain the details of the codes he describes, as well as their solution, but does it in an inadequate way. It would be better to explain some of them in real depth, and drop the attempt to explain others altogether. I do want to end this review on a positive note, however. It's a unique book, and finishing it is a rewarding experience if you're really into crypto. It provides very insightful background and history for some classical ciphers and their creators.
- "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett - ostensibly a saga about the construction of a cathedral in 12th-century England, but this book is really 95% about medieval politics. The description of life in those days is very realistic and interesting. I'm curious why Follett can't write books shorter than 1000 pages, though. While this book could've easily been at least 30% shorter, it's still pretty good.
- "The Long Valley" by John Steinbeck - a collection of short stories, somewhat mixed quality. Includes "The Red Pony" which is itself a collection of 4 loosely connected stories. I enjoyed other Steinbeck short story collections (like "Pastures of Heaven") much more.
- "Can You Crack the Code?" by Ella Schwartz - good intro to ciphers and cryptography for kids. Read it with my daughter - she really liked the book and read it multiple times. My only gripe about this book is that the exercises are too simple.
- "Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed" by Ben Rich - the author worked at Lockheed's famous Skunk Works division for his whole career and was its director from 1975 to 1991. This is his memoir of his work at Skunk Works from the development of the U2, to SR-71 and F-117, with some other projects in-between. Fascinating glimpse into one of the most highly respected engineering operations in the world. Very interesting lessons here about what makes teams and companies effective (small >> big).
- "Math with Bad Drawings" by Ben Orlin - an original approach to explaining various real-world phenomena using math. Fun book for the most part, and the humor is actually good. I was hoping it would be more interesting to young kids, but the level jumps quite a bit between topics - some are trivial, some require considerable cultural background and maturity, e.g. insurance, politics/elections and baseball.
- "The Log from the Sea of Cortez" by John Steinbeck - travel log of the author's trip to collect sea animals from the gulf of Baja California, with his friend Ed Ricketts. Great book overall, and I especially liked the last part which is a brief biography of Steinbeck's friendship with Ricketts. A must read if you like "Cannery Row".
- "The Signal and the Noise" by Nate Silver - the author has made a name for himself by blogging predictions about politics and baseball, and in this book he lays out his philisophy for managing uncertainty and making predictions, leaning on Bayesian reasoning. It's an OK book, occasionally amusing and insightful.
- "The Information" by James Gleick - decent book with some interesting historical trivia I wasn't aware of. I liked the author's earlier works (like "Chaos") much more.
Re-reads:
- "Resurrection" by Leo Tolstoy
- "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk" by A. Faber, E. Mazlish
- "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell